Homeless crisis: One family losing their home in the capital every single day

Almost 40 families were made homeless in Dublin over the last month alone

DUBLIN, IRELAND - DECEMBER 01: A homeless woman holds out a cup for money on The O'Connell Bridge on December 1, 2010 in Dublin, Ireland. The Irish economy has faltered after years of growth and recently European Union finance ministers approved an aid package totalling 85-billion Euros (113 billion U.S. dollars). (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) (Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

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The homeless crisis sweeping Ireland is getting worse – with one family losing their home in the capital every single day.

Almost 40 families were made homeless in Dublin over the last month alone, new figures revealed.

Some 39 families were left without a roof over their heads in the past four weeks, statistics from housing charity Focus Ireland have shown.

Almost all the families who lost their homes last month were in the private rented sector, and couldn’t afford their rent as their supplement didn’t cover it.

The frightening statistics were announced as Focus Ireland appealed to the government to bump up rent supplement payments to make them match actual rent levels.

In a submission to a Department of Social Protection review, it argued that such a move is the only way to stop people losing their homes.

The charity’s submission also warned that the government’s rent review process is fatally flawed, and won’t solve the worsening problem crippling the country.

Focus Ireland Director of Advocacy, Mike Allen said: “A lot of the families that are becoming homeless and others we are supporting to try to prevent them losing their homes have been forced to top-up the rent supplement to meet the market cost of rent as the rent supplement doesn’t cover the rent.

“Paying this top-up month on month is clearly not sustainable and it just pushes families deeper into debt and nearer to homelessness.”

Focus Ireland called on the coalition to hike rent supplement rates to stop the rise in the number of families losing their homes as they can’t afford to pay their rent.

A staggering 10,000 people were forced to turn to Focus Ireland for help last year after losing their homes.

But that figure is set to skyrocket as a whopping 8,000 were left without a roof over their heads in the first six months of this year alone.

The number of people who used Focus Ireland’s prevention and support services shot by 25% in the last two years as people struggled to cope with tax hikes and rising unemployment.

And speaking last month, the charity’s life president and founder, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, called on the government to intervene immediately to stop the growing crisis.

She revealed: “One family a day loses their home and becomes homeless in Dublin alone.

“The blame for this can only be laid at the door of the Government and only the Government can stop this from happening in many cases.”

The coalition admitted before the local and European elections in May that the housing and homeless situation was at crisis point here - but Sr Stanislaus said her charity had yet to see the urgent response needed.

She added: “We are trying to do what we can but it’s really hard due to the critical shortage of accommodation.”